My Own Worst Enemy
by ThePink1 at Reefside.Net
Summary: Some secrets are meant to stay that way ...
1. Chapter 1

"**My Own Worst Enemy"**

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 1

Hay Lin sat up straight, eyes aglow at the commercial teaser. _'As soon as the show's over … as soon as the show's over …'_ she promised herself, writing the web address on the edge of her hand by the light of the television. Setting her DVR to catch the news afterwards, she settled back to watch the all-new, exciting adventures of Edward and Henry.

Ten seconds (or less) after the credits were over, Hay was sitting in front of her new Lappy 512. Diving into the net, she typed in the address of her latest guilty pleasure and waited with held breath for the link to resolve.

"_Welcome to A J Sun, your home for the Solar Energy Alternatives of the new millennium."_ The crisp British voice, feminine yet assertive, reminded Hay of the old Star Trek shows, and the voice of the computers. Then her Air-affinity awakened, and she smiled.

'_Of course! The show's resident psych! Ooooh! Wait 'til I tell T! She's been practicing her 'Olde English' for the next Renaissance fair. She'll get a kick out of this site!_' She read the next couple lines of text on the title page: 'Customer or Employee?'

With a grin, Hay clicked on 'Employee'. No doubt whoever set up the site for the show knew this was how everyone would go to get the inside scoop the trailer promised. She was further challenged with 'Support Staff or Field Consultant?' Her grin widened, and she clicked on 'Consultant'. Who wouldn't? She figured 'Support Staff' was for A/V nuts like Martin who liked to know how they did all those cool graphics and wicked stunts. She wanted to get to the real stuff.

Hay was then flummoxed by a new query. "ID and password?" the cool British voice once again spoke. She sat back for a second, confused, then perked right back up and scooted forward to the keyboard again. _'Of course! It's supposed to be a SPY site! This is probably so they can keep track of repeat hits and send back e-mails about upcoming episodes!' _She mulled over the question for a minute, then with a snap of her fingers, typed in a sure-fire alternate ego. 'Agent Zephyr' signed in, using her middle name and birth date as a password. Expecting a screenful of sleek artwork and exciting show-related menus, Hay Lin got instead a blank black screen with a single line of yellow text in the top left corner.

'Welcome back, Agent Lin.'

_'What in the name of Candracar?'_ Hay looked at that sentence, dumbfounded.


	2. Chapter 2

"**My Own Worst Enemy"**

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

**Chapter 2**

'_Welcome back, Agent Lin.'_

_'What in the name of Candracar_?' Hay looked at that sentence, dumbfounded.

After a full minute of just staring, she got an even bigger shock. The black background slowly resolved into a grey-on-black version of the United States Seal, like an old photograph of the floor of the President's office. Hay gulped as the words of the Seal turned yellow to match her greeting, still at the top. Then a new line of text appeared under it.

'_No new assignments. Current Agent status: Family Sick Leave. Would you like to update your status?'_

Hay Lin felt sick, alright. Just seeing that line made her realize the site getting her name right wasn't just a neat hacker's trick to make the site cooler. No amount of hacking could have told a pack of random net-nerds that the whole Lin family was currently rallied around Yan Lin, trying to help her grandmother get over a lasting cold that kept threatening to turn into pneumonia. She reached forward warily, as if just touching the computer could lead to something worse, and typed _'No',_ then pressed enter.

She sat there with her head in her hands, fighting off impending shivers, as the site replied. '_Request acknowledged.'_ A few more seconds crawled by, then, _'Next check-in at twenty-two hundred in three days.'_

Hay Lin gulped again, her golden skin greying as she paled. What had she stumbled into? Her brain whirring, she typed in the only thing she kept coming back to, a phrase that had stuck as 'something to look up at the site after the show'.

'_Mission reports'_ she typed, and hit send. '_Damned for the hen as much as the egg,_' she thought. The old proverb, which even in her mind sounded like her grandma Yan was saying it, made her giggle, despite the situation.

'_Mission date or Report number?_' the cursed thing sprang back with.

Hoping she wasn't completely busting herself, she took a gamble the site was like a lot of e-mail server pages, and typed in _'First'._

The little light on her modem went nuts for a moment, and Hay thought, '_That's it, I've had it. They're electronically tagging me for extraction and elimination as I wait here ..'_

***BEEP!***

She jumped. She couldn't help it, her nerves were wound so tight at this point. With dread, she looked at the screen. Now white with a faint image of the grey Seal still in the middle, the screen looked like it was displaying a form letter from some anonymous government agency. Except …

No government agency employed _Joan Meiying Reese ('Lin'_, Hay added in her own head, then giggled – if a touch hysterically - when she realized her mother had given Hay M. Lin _her _middle name.) That brought her back to the page in front of her. Thinking fast, she did a text-capture, logged off, and saved the file as 'Wow!#1'. Then she ran for the bathroom, but whether to pee or to puke even _she_ wasn't sure.

When she came out several minutes later, her mother was just getting to the top of the stairs. "Whew! The late crowd finally went home! Now we can relax for the rest of the … night …" Joan Lin's voice trailed off as her daughter gave her the strangest look. "What's the matter, Hay-hay?" The young woman turned to look in the hallway mirror at the top of the landing. "Egg or flower somewhere? No, or sauce either ..." She turned back, and her daughter was now giving her one of her widest, silliest smiles.

"It's nothing, muqin. I just … I started my … you know …" Hay Lin made vague gestures towards the lower half of her abdomen. It was enough.

"Ah! That. All right then. I'll remember to pick up some more women's supplies at the store tomorrow. They were right when they said 'women in the same house tend to get synchronized'. The rest of us can't be far behind, then." Hay just nodded guiltily, and scurried back into her room. _Her period wasn't due for another week._

Pleading 'homework burnout', she shut the door on any extra conversation and turned her light off. She'd never lied to her mother before. At least not like that, and _never_ if it wasn't Guardian-related. Hay had long since come up with a series of humorous sports anecdotes she could whirl off at a moment's notice to appease her parents for any bruises she might bring home in the course of a day's work Guarding the Infinite Dimensions. But she'd never lied to her mother about _normal life_. What did it mean?

'_Face it, Hay, your life just got as far from normal as possible,'_ she thought back in self-answer. She looked back at her computer, where the saved file was still waiting, minimized on her taskbar. Suddenly furious, she walked over, shut down her Lappy, and flung herself on her bed. '_The girls are never gonna believe me …'_

Hay Lin sat bolt upright. The girls couldn't know. The girls could _never _know. She wished _she_ didn't know. Everything was such a jumble in her head that, by the time she got to sleep, she had dream-mares. They mixed up the show, her life as a Guardian, and going on missions with her mother until finally she woke up with a start to the false dawn of the first school day after 'Fall-back'. She felt like she hadn't slept at all in years.


	3. Chapter 3

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

**Chapter 3**

Hay Lin was nearly late for school. Dragging herself into homeroom all of five seconds before the first bell rang, she waved log enough to get Mister Collins' attention so he could mark her down as 'present'. Hurrying back out to her locker, Hay asked Taranee telepathically if there were any important announcements that morning.

"_Just an assembly before lunch, Hay,"_ the Fire Guardian returned. _"What's wrong? Sleep in?"_

"_No, T; Migraine."_ Figuring she might as well perpetuate her lie from last night, she added, _"It's probably PMS."_ She shut herself away before Taranee could call her on it.

Hay spent the rest of the morning in a miserable funk. She avoided the other girls as much as she could until the assembly, and snuck in the opposite door of the gym, invisible. She sank down a row away from the rest of W.i.t.c.h. with a mental moan. Her reason was simple.

'Wow!#1' was saved to her phone's memory, so she could look at it safely far away from home. So far, the fates – and classwork – were conspiring against her. She was determined to sit and read it during lunch, though. The only trick now was going about it without her well-meaning but hopelessly nosy friends getting involved.

Fresh guilt burrowed through her. It wasn't as if she didn't trust the other Guardians; far from it. She trusted them with her secrets … and her _life_ … all the time. It was just that _this_ secret wasn't hers to share. It was her mother's, and Hay already squirmed as if Damocles' sword were over her head with just _herself_ 'in the know'. She hadn't even confided in her grandma yet, and Hay told Yan Lin _everything_ … until now.

Her miserable train of thought was derailed by the start of the assembly. Mrs. Knickerbocker called for everyone's attention, then introduced their guest speakers: Officers Tom Lair (Irma's father,) and Paul McManus of the Heatherfield Police Department. As the senior Officer, Tom took the podium first.

"Alright, hello everyone. As most of you know, there was an emergency meeting of the Parent-Teachers Association last night. It was called to discuss what has brought me here today." He took a steadying breath, then continued.

"Many of you may have noticed a pair of students have been gone from your classes for the last couple of days. Alexis Thompson and Nick Christos were attacked late Saturday night after the football game. Nick has a concussion and a broken arm, and Alexis is in the ICU. I can't tell you everything, but that does bring me to why I'm in front of you today.

"Your classmate was sexually assaulted." He was looking right at Irma as he said this, with haunted eyes. Hay could understand perfectly. Picturing the friendly upper-class-woman in her artist's mind, she was shaken by how much Alexis (known as A J to her friends and classmates) and Irma looked alike.

Glancing over at her best friend since preschool, Hay Lin could tell the same realization had struck the other W.i.t.c.h. girls. Will was already leaning in to the others, furiously whispering something. While everyone else was still reeling from the first bomb, Officer Lair dropped the next one on them.

"I've told you this because we haven't caught the perp yet. Yesterday's PTA meeting was for the sole purpose of deciding whether to tell you this today. We felt it was in the best interests of the students for you all to know the truth, and especially to know that this guy isn't afraid to go after someone if they aren't alone.

"Look, kids. I'll tell you the truth. As of right now, we have all of our officers on alert, every neighborhood watch has the best description of this creep Nick and Alexis could give us, and as of tonight …" He exchanged a long sorrowful look with his partner, who nodded back encouragingly.

Tom sighed, then said "As of tonight, there is a city-wide curfew of eight o'clock for all school-age residents." He and Paul waited out the inevitable gripe-fest that erupted to end, trading sympathetic looks with the school faculty. After a couple minutes, the Student Body President stepped forward.

Hay Lin grinned despite the situation as ever-responsible Taranee Cook stepped up to the podium. _"Hey, 'Uncle Tom', Officer McManus. Gimme a sec to calm 'em back down for you."_ Even Hay's Air-enhanced hearing was hard-pressed to listen in on that with the tumult around them.

"MY FELLOW STUDENTS," Taranee projected over the assembly.

"_Wow, those public speaking classes are doing her _good!" Hay heard Alchemy whisper to Elyon several rows behind her. The young Meridianite murmured back her agreement as the other teens settled back down.

"Look, guys and girls, there's obviously more going on here," Taranee stated. "So let's give the officers time to tell us what they came to. We'll have all lunch hour to fight about it." She gave the gathered students one of her rare megawatt smiles, said "Thank you," and sat back down with her friends.

Officer McManus stepped up to the podium. "And thank you, Miss Cook. Actually, we're all set." He looked sheepishly back at his partner, who just gave him a magnanimous wave to continue. "Okay, this _really_ is just temporary, kids. As soon as this creep is caught, you'll be able to go back to your sleep-ignoring hooligan ways."

A smatter of nervous laughs was his reward for the lame joke. Many of the students had started to understand just what the officers had told them. Paul turned the lectern back over to Missus Knickerbocker. She in turn let the students go back to class with an additional admonition to heed the safety curfew, and the teens all filed out of the gym. Several were already bemoaning the curfew, namely those with tickets to late movie showings, and the unlucky employed kids with inflexible work hours.

While numbered among the latter, Hay found herself suddenly grateful she lived in the same building she worked at. Thinking of home led her back to her dread of the saved file on her phone. Between 'Wow!#1', her Guardian duties, and now worrying about this mystery attacker loose in Heatherfield, Hay thought her head might explode.

'_Like Candracar doesn't keep us busy enough!'_ she thought, following Heather Weir out of the gym. The Chess Team's top gun spun to a stop without warning at her locker just outside the door. Hay plowed into her with a squeal that got lost in the taller girl's puff of curly brown hair, then fell back on her rump with an _'Oooof!'_

"Who the he ..?" Heather never finished the sentence, looking around for whoever had run into her. Seeing nobody, she shrugged and turned back to her locker for her lunch and her next class' books.

Hay sat up in the hallway, spitting out one of her hip-length braids. _'What in the name of the Oracle?'_ She clambered to her feet, only to be knocked back over from behind by Kurt, Nigel's big blonde friend.

"Who … huh … wha?" he said. Hay looked up to see her second abuser. The taller fellow sophomore was turning in place, as confused as Heather had been as to who he'd bumped into. Newly picked for the junior varsity football team along with his best buddy Laurent, Kurt was hardly the brightest student in Sheffield Institute. It was fervently hoped by many, W.i.t.c.h. included, that getting the two impressionable boys into sports would help turn their more rambunctious tendencies in a constructive direction. That, and getting the pair away from Uriah Dunn's disruptive influence couldn't be a bad thing, as Nigel had said often.

'_What gives?'_ Hay thought, looking first at Kurt, then back at Heather. _'Why are they both acting like ..?'_ She glanced back down to push herself up, and gasped. _She was still invisible!_ Where her hands should have been, millimeters from being stepped on by the still-oblivious Heather Weir, was merely a pair of faint, sweaty handprints in the dust of the school corridor. Facepalming, she scurried away before either of them could collide with her again.

Pushing herself up next to the wall several feet away, Hay quietly made her way to the nearest girls' lavatory. Once there, she slipped inside a stall. She peeked quickly to make sure the coast was clear, then willed herself visible again. _'What a noob mistake,'_ the Chinese teen chided herself. She sank onto the commode, and kicked her feet up to rest against the door. Hay furiously pondered how she'd sat through that whole assembly, _invisible,_ without noticing it herself. (Or stranger yet, without being noticed one way or another, by the two kids she'd sat between, or by the _other_ magically-gifted among the students!)

'_Speak of the diva,'_ Hay thought, as she heard Cornelia and Taranee coming into the bathroom.

"Nice crowd control speech, Madam Prez," Cornelia was saying as they entered.

"Oh, quiet you, or I'll tell my brother how much you _really_ like him," Taranee teased right back.

"You _wouldn't_ ..?" Cornelia countered. Hay Lin cheered inwardly, proud of how confident W.i.t.c.h.'s shy Fire Guardian had gotten in the three years since they'd met.

"_Who ..?"_ "Who's there?" Taranee asked out loud, certain only Cornelia would have heard the first telepathic query.

'_Ah, crap,'_ Hay swore to herself, letting her feet fall back to the floor. "Hey you two, it's just me," she said, sidling out of the stall with a pensive expression.

"Hay-hay? What's wrong, Sprite?" Taranee and Hay Lin both grinned at Cornelia's use of their team's new nickname for the Air Guardian.

"Nothing some quality time with my B F F's won't cure," Hay answered. "Think we could convince Will we need another practice session after school today?" She gave the other two young women a brief glimpse of her own megawatt smile.

"Let's ask her at lunch," the Student Body President told her Air-powered friend.

"Yeah, that's in, like, five minutes," Cornelia added. Hay quietly wondered for the umpteenth time how a girl with absolutely _NO_ connections in sunny southern California had grown up sounding like a 'Valley Girl'.

"Oohhhh, I can't. I'm gonna have to spend lunch in the library," Hay moaned. "I've got to find out a couple more things for my history report before sixth hour. I know, it's not due until tomorrow," she added to Taranee, who was looking at her in confusion. "But I wanna turn it in a day early for the extra credit, ya know?" Taranee's expression settled immediately. Extra credit she could understand completely, and history was far from Hay's best subject, barring _art_ history, which the gifted young Asian had apparently memorized in the womb.

"Do you want help? Or company?" the African-American Guardian asked.

"NO!" Hay countered, then hastily added, "No, you know me, I'll never get it finished if I've got any kind of distraction … even the friendly kind." She smiled disarmingly to throw her friends further off the trail.

"Well' if you're _sure …"_ Cornelia let her voice raise at the end into a question, to which Hay just nodded reassuringly. "Alright then. C'mon, T, let's get down to the cafeteria before all the recognizable food's been nabbed. I tell you," she told their dark-skinned friend as the trio left the lavatory. "If Caleb and Elyon had wanted to win the war faster, all they'd had to do is feed Phobos' forces the Sheffield lunch menu. Even the Lurdens would have surrendered in, like, three days, _tops."_ Hay giggled as she followed them out, then split away to go to the library.

'Wow!#1' was waiting …


	4. Chapter 4

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 4

"There's my girl!" Irma cried, turfing her own backpack to make room for Hay Lin at the Guardians' habitual table. When the downcast Chinese girl plunked herself between Irma and Eric, the Water Guardian gave her a welcoming hug. "Where've you _been,_ Hay-hay? You missed my show." Irma pretended to pout.

"Library," Hay murmured, sinking further into herself. "Needed extra credit for my history report," she added, and pulled her lunch out of her bag. She had all of five minutes left of their lunch break to eat her pint of fried rice, so she dug in without another word to any of the girls. This hardly went unnoticed.

"Hey, Sprite, what's wrong?" Eric asked. He had adopted the girl's new nickname for his sweetheart, readily agreeing that Hay Lin was the terrestrial match for a mythical fairy … usually. But her current depression was as far from normal for her as he'd ever seen, and it had him worried. (Not _half_ as worried as the rest of her magical friends, but he had no way of knowing that.)

"Mnufing," she responded around a mouthful of rice and vegetables. Hay swallowed around a lump in her throat worse than any pea pod could account for. '_That damnable file!'_ she fumed inwardly. In the twenty minutes she'd spent in the library, she'd gone from having to hide her newest secret from her best friends, to having to tell them – sooner or later – that her mother knew about the Guardians. Worse yet, Joan hadn't found out from Yan Lin or Hay herself.

Unfortunately, Hay couldn't tell whether her mom knew that she and her friends were the present Guardians. 'Wow!#1' had been nearly twenty years old, dating approximately to when her parents had first met. As far as she could tell, _her grandma's career as the Air Guardian was the whole reason her father had met her mother!_

The bell for the pre-fifth-period rush rang, and Hay looked down at her lunch, only half-eaten. She ate her current forkful and snapped the lid back on her rice bucket. When she looked up, her friends were all still around their table, looking at her worriedly. Even Nigel and Matt, occasional bandmates of Eric and boyfriends of Taranee and Will, were still there.

Eric on her right, Irma on her left, and Taranee across from her all leaned back down. "What's wrong, Hay-hay?" Irma asked, brow drawn. Nothing got to her best friend this bad, not since having to fight her own grandmother two years ago … Irma gasped. "Is something wrong with Yan Lin?"

"Can't be," Eric countered from over Hay's twin ponytails. "Mira would have told Grandpa and me." Hay Lin's 'Great-Aunt Mira', actually her grandmother Yan's Altermere, was still dating Eric's grandfather Zack Lyndon off-and-on, much to the teen sweethearts' embarrassment.

"_Sprite?"_ Taranee asked mentally, resting a hand on Hay's where it sat on top of her lunchpail.

Equally relieved and embarrassed with the amount of support her friends were showing, Hay stood slowly. "Nothing's wrong with Grandma, Irma," she said with a tremulous smile, and her friends all sighed with relief. "It's just … well …" Mentally humming sci-fi showtunes to keep Taranee out of her head a few seconds longer, she lied. _Again._ "My monthly visitor stopped by during second hour," she muttered, _just_ loud enough for Nigel and Matt from across the table to hear. They and Eric all took a hurried step back from the six girls.

"On that note," Matt said. "Come on, guys; not our conversation." The other two followed him out gladly. Some things the male teen mind was just not meant to think about.

"Okay, will you can the canned musak, Hay-hay? The guys are gone," Taranee said. "And you're giving me a headache. Now, what's _really_ up?"

Before the Air Guardian could answer, the second bell rang, and with a wild look around her, Hay ran from the room. _"I'll tell you guys after school, okay?" _she sent behind her. The other Guardians and Elyon could only hurry off to their own classes, now doubly worried.

_Enemy_

Two hours later, W.I.T. and their allied Hearts gathered outside the gate of Sheffield Institute, waiting for Hay Lin and Cornelia. The two girls were in the same sixth hour class along with Eric. Finally, the trio came out the door, Hay jogging in the lead. She was almost – _almost_ – out of the schoolyard when normally supernaturally light-on-her-feet Hay tripped, and her haphazard armload of books and papers went flying everywhere.

"_NO!"_ she cried, and in complete disregard of anyone around her, the other Guardians all heard her hissed command of _"Doldrums!"_ The sudden absence of wind on the formerly blustery day drew a few eyes Hay's way, but she was already too busy scrambling after her tumbled schoolwork.

Cornelia and Eric both tried to lend a hand, but Hay snatched the pages they picked up out of their hands as fast as she was gathering the rest up. When Cornelia started to ask what was up after the second page Hay grabbed from her ripped in half, the Air Guardian's furious telepathic _"Not HERE!"_ made Cornelia hand her the other half mutely and just stand the #&][ out of her way.

Taranee, busy giving Nigel a steamy goodbye kiss outside the fenceline, missed most of the byplay on the Sheffield lawn. She was just turning around after her Bass-player boyfriend left for his after-school job at the Museum, when Hay's mental cry reached her and the others.

"_Hay-hay, you've gotta relax! Whatever it is, it can't be _that_ bad!"_

Hay gave the offending sender Irma a scathing glare, grabbed up the last two waiting papers, and stalked out of the schoolyard. The other girls, Matt, and Eric followed worriedly. Hay led the train of people into the park, and wended them behind the small utility & restroom building in the middle. A hurried glance and listen told her that they were alone, and unobserved.

"Elyon," Hay began without preamble. "Could you get us out of here, to somewhere private?" The waiting group knew she meant off of Earth, and suddenly worried _more._

Without thinking about it more than she had to, the Queen of Meridian closed her eyes and concentrated, opening a fold against the back wall of the building so their group would hide it. With surreptitious glances round, they all hurried through, Hay last. With another pause to look and _listen_, she didn't notice anyone, and she jumped into the fold, which closed behind her.

As soon as she stepped out onto obviously Meridian soil (one could tell by the varied blues in the grass cover,) Hay breathed a huge sigh of relief. None of her friends spoke, waiting for the Air girl to explain herself. Without a word, Hay started to hand pages from her rumpled armful to each of them, giving the torn one to Taranee with a sheepish grin.

"Uh, Hay-hay? Why do I have your English homework?" Matt asked, now really confused.

"Huh?" Hay looked at the page he held back out to her, then snatched it back with an "OH!" and handed him something else. _'There,'_ she thought. Now they'd each get to read a copy of 'Wow!#1'

Matt read the new paper intensely, aware the others were already deep into … whatever it was. From the silence around them, foreboding and fearful, this missive was _Bad News_ with capital letters.

Speed-readers Taranee and Eric were through it first, and turned fright-filled eyes to each other, then Hay Lin. She just nodded sadly back.

"This can't be right …" Will said soon afterwards.

"This can't be _real,"_ Cornelia countered.

"This can't be happening," Taranee added.

"No _way!"_ Irma spat finally, having finished slower.

"Are you sh-sure about this?" Elyon asked. As the last person to suffer from family intrigue, she hardly wished it on one of her friends next, and _certainly_ not ever-happy Hay Lin.

"Oh, come on. This has got to be somebody's idea of a sick joke, guys. I mean, everybody knows Hay-hay's a sci-fi junkie. Any net nerd with a few minutes to spare and a sadistic streak could cook this up …" Cornelia looked at the others. Most of them started trading hopeful glances as well for a second.

"Who knows about the Guardians, Cornelia? Or that my grandmother was one?" Hay asked quietly, squashing the wonderful theory ruthlessly. "Or that my mom and I have the same middle name? It's how I got in." She hung her head, and Cornelia did too. Eric crossed the space between them and wrapped his arms around Hay.

"We'll figure this out, _amante,"_ he told her quietly. Taranee smiled nervously, hearing him call Hay 'lover' in Spanish.

"What do we do first?" Irma asked. "Do we tell Yan?" Hay's head snapped up, her eyes wide.

"NO! Not yet! Not until she's better!" The Air Guardian shook in reaction, and the other girls all exchanged alarmed looks.

"I thought you said your grandma was fine?" Elyon asked her fellow artist.

"Wellll, she's no worse off than she was all weekend, with that nasty cold she can't shake," Hay admitted. Eric drew her closer, and the two exchanged a sorrowful look. Mira had been told by her 'sister' to stay away the whole last week, just in case the virulent bug might have proven even more dangerous for Yan's magical 'twin'.

"Still, huh?" Irma sighed. "Okay, well, so we don't shock the sick woman with the news that her daughter-in-law is a government op spying on her. We could tell Cass," she continued. "She's mentioned in the report, too." Irma flipped up her copy of 'Wow!#1' and read out from paragraph four.

"'Two of subject's compatriots still have not surfaced. All inquiries into the alleged skiing accident of subject MacLean, Cassidy have yielded no results. No further information of whereabouts of subject Astrapes, Nerissa. Recommend additional deep-cover surveillance for both missing subjects.'"

"These reports are twenty years old," Will said. "Do you think they're still looking for Cass and Nerissa?" She sounded skeptical and hopeful at the same time.

"Will, they're expecting fresh reports from my _mother_ every few days, _even_ _now!"_ Hay hissed. Hiding her face in her hands, she moaned, "What're we gonna _doooo?"_

"All right, _definitely_ telling Cassidy then." Irma glared around at the rest of them to contradict her, but no one did.

"And the other Regents," Matt added, just to remind them that they weren't without allies.

"My parents, too," Elyon murmured. Suddenly, she swore. "Guys, _my parents!_ Remember when we all went missing on Meridian that first year, those two Interpol agents were asking all over about us!"

"Big Guy and Small Fry!" Irma nodded, snapping her fingers. "The blonde hunk and his partner, the Latina with a short temper."

"Blonde hunk?" Cornelia sneered.

"What? I can't be the only one who noticed …" Irma countered.

Eric chuckled, muffling it with a _"Sorry,"_ when most of the Guardians glared at him.

"Big Guy and Small Fry; big blonde guy, short, short-tempered woman …" Taranee was muttering to herself. Then her eyes lit up, narrowing. "Guys, their names are McTiennan and Medina … from Interpol _Missing Persons_ Office! They've been back more than once, too. I've seen them around the court building. They most likely know about Cassidy as well, which means even if this … whichever Agency Joan's from, wasn't keeping an eye on Emily already, they probably are now that she's resurfaced. Even though she's trying to pass herself off as her own orphaned daughter, I bet Cass has fingerprints on file as a missing person somewhere, still."

"Okay …" Elyon said. "So … we know about them, but … what do we _do?"_ They kept coming back to that.

"Forewarned is forearmed," Eric managed. He remembered one of the Guardians saying that phrase before. As their most recent confidant, (less than three months,) he was still taking all of their revelations as serious as a heart condition.

"Forewarned … the Oracle." Will whapped her forehead. "Okay. We tell the Council, then we tell Cass and the Browns. And Napoleon and Huggles," she added with a small smile up at Matt. "Then … war conference. Preferably in Candracar."

"Instead of that list, why not all at once, Angel?" Matt asked. "Most of us have cells, now. Let's coordinate. You go fill in the Council, send Irma to tell Cassidy, I'll tell cat-man and Kor, and we'll meet at the MacLeans' to get the Water-girls back to Candracar."

"Nice improv plan," Taranee said admiringly.

"Years of arranging band practices," Matt said, self-effacing.

"Yeah, it could work," Eric nodded sagely. "Strength in numbers." Then he added "Divide and conquer." Hay tittered and elbowed him.

"Would you stop that?" she asked with a grin. "You sound like cookie fortunes from General Tsao."

"More like G. I. Joe," Cornelia countered.

"Yo, Joe," Irma deadpanned.

"And knowing is half the battle," Matt couldn't resist adding. Hay cracked up, and Eric gave her a glad hug.

"That's all I was waiting for, _amante."_ He kissed her.

"Okay, we've all got our assignments," Elyon giggled, getting in on the pun. "Let's break." Cornelia rolled her eyes at her oldest friend, but couldn't help grinning as well.

"You people are _so_ bad for my image," she laughed, knowing it was _years_ too late to change the situation.

"What's that, Corny?" Irma egged.

"Nothing, Irmy."

"On that note," Will chortled, and opened a fold. "Cass' garage, Irma. Let's keep this as low-key as possible." As soon as the Water Guardian was through, she turned to Matt. "See ya soon," she murmured, giving him a kiss. Then she opened a second fold to Candracar. "All aboard?"

"I better go with Matt," Cornelia said. "It'll be easier to get Napoleon out of my place if I'm along. Besides," she said, color rising in her cheeks as she admitted, "I gotta _go._ And my nerves can't take dealing with Candracar's weird plumbing right now."

Will and Hay nodded understandingly, having run into the strange necessary the Council had in the main Audience Chamber before, themselves. The other three Guardians all waved as they and Eric disappeared through the fold.

Matt and Elyon bumped fists, and then folded to their respective destinations, Cornelia following her sister's Regent closely. All three wondered how they were going to get through their waiting conversations.


	5. Chapter 5

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 5

"_WHAT?!"_ Cassidy thundered, standing and ripping the copy of 'Wow!#1' Irma had brought with her apart down the middle. Half clenched in each hand, she tried to keep reading from both pieces. But between her floored brain-cells and her shaking hands, she didn't get any further.

"Cass … ya gotta relax …" Irma tried to get her hands on Cassidy's shoulders, but the angry red-head whirled to look out the garage window behind her.

The two Water Guardians had literally run into each other when Irma had arrived through Will's portal. Cass was just stepping out into her garage to go to her part-time job at the Heatherfield YMWCA. Without preamble, Irma had merely handed the covert missive to her predecessor.

Now, however, the Current Guardian was mentally kicking herself for not giving Cassidy _some_ kind of warning first. _"Cass!"_ Irma hissed, pulling the distraught girl away from the curtains, where she was murmuring a laundry-list of possible spies keeping eyes on her or her mother.

"Millie? No, she's been out of town almost as much as the Browns … Delisle? Hmmmm, he sure took the landscaping job P D Q at Nahia's next door …"

"_Would you snap out of it?"_ Irma sent, adding some of her Guardian 'Whammy' behind the telepathic prompt. Granted, it wouldn't affect Cass like it might a normal person, since she'd also been a Water Guardian, but it was enough to get her attention.

"Ghu, Irma, look. I'm sorry, but … if they _are_ watching me, I have to act normally, which means getting to work on time right now. _Especially_ since I just started there last month." Cassidy shook her head for a moment, thinking hard. "Okay, I'm there until eight. Somebody come get me from my room after I get home tonight, and I'll catch up then. And I'll read _this,"_ she added, folding the two pieces of 'Wow!#1' into a tiny square and putting it in her waterproof wallet, "at breaktime!"

Irma sighed. There really wasn't much else they could do at this point. "Okay. Just, keep an eye out. We'll see ya then." Cass gave Irma a quick hug.

"See ya later, Irmagator," she said, opening the garage door and wheeling out her reconditioned old Moto-scooter. She was still surprised her mother had kept it all these years.

"In a while, Cassiedile," Irma replied with a grin. She liked having Cassidy around. It was like getting a cool new older cousin who had a matching sense of humor. Then she remembered the other part of their 'pass it along' plan. "Oh, is it okay if I hang here? The others were supposed to regroup here to take us back to Candracar," she added, holding the red-head's helmet out to her.

Cassidy accepted helmet and question both with a terse nod and a _'Shhhh!'_ "Careful with the C-word for now, too! Just in case!" With that, she donned her helmet, kicked her scooter to life, and puttered off to work. Irma shut the garage door and took up vigil on a stool by the window, watching her predecessor go to muck with pH balances and chlorine ratios.

"Damn, nothing to do while I wait now except homework," Irma muttered, and pulled her French book out of her backpack.

_Enemy_

Will and Taranee were attempting to settle in to the same waiting activity on benches in Candracar, when Hay and Eric came running up to them. Hay had taken a copy of 'Wow!#1' to the Oracle, so he would know why they were all invading the Temple of a sudden. Eric refused to leave her side.

"You guys, I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but we can tell Grandma after all! Just indirectly!" the Air girl exclaimed as she slid to a halt. "Will, open a fold to the Observatory!"

Will and Taranee exchanged looks of surprise, then facepalmed simultaneously.

"Of course," Taranee uttered. "Mira!" Will nodded, pulling the Heart back out of her collar.

"Where at?" she asked Eric.

"Hmm, better put it inside my room," he said. "That way, we can just go, show her the report, and bring her back with us without opening a second one."

"Oh. I'll have to make a portal instead of a fold, then," Will told him, holding the Heart up and concentrating. Seconds later, a blue oval of energy opened before the four teens. "Hurry back, you guys," she said.

"I'll call around," Hay said, "and see how our others are doing." She grinned sheepishly. "Gonna borrow the facilities, too. Cornelia's right, Candracar's plumbing is just too weird to deal with right now."

"T M I," Taranee said, making a disgusted face, then grinned. Hay and Eric stepped through the swirling portal. Will and Taranee returned to their rereading of their copies of the damning report, both too worried for homework.

_Enemy_

Elyon hadn't had to show her parents 'Wow!#1', or even say anything. One look at her worried face when she'd folded into the living room of their Heatherfield residence, and Eleanor and Thomas Brown had dropped all pretence. Captain Miriadel of the Meridian Army and her hand-fasted mate, Commander Alborn of the Royal Guard, had snapped out of their seats and come to attention, hands over their hearts in Meridian salutes.

"Emergency meeting in Candracar, Mom; Dad." Elyon returned the salute, then ran into their arms, seeking the reassurance she hoped she'd never have to outgrow. They enfolded her wordlessly, loving this side of their adopted daughter more than they could ever possibly convey to their young Queen.

"Lead the way, dear," Miriadel said quietly, when Elyon's grip loosened.

Elyon stepped back, collecting herself. Then, with a decisive nod, she called forth a second fold, and the Browns stepped through to Candracar.

_Enemy_

Matt and Cornelia barreled into the door at the Hale residence at a run, only to pull up short at the sight of her entire family in the living room. "'scuse me," the blonde Guardian mumbled, blushing, and ran for the half-bath at the end of their entrance hall. Matt smiled sheepishly at the rest of the Hle family, and tried to spy Napoleon amidst the trio of humans taking up the couch.

"Are the others with you, Matthew?" Elizabeth asked. "We were just sitting down to the newest Harry Potter movie. You're all welcome to join us." She smiled invitingly.

"Ah, thanks Mizz Hale, but we really just stopped so Cor could use the john, and to take Napoleon back to the clinic. They just sent us the latest batch of feline Leukemia vaccines, and Will checked his file for Lillian, and he hasn't gotten that immunization yet." The Regent and Guardian of Earth had thought up that little white lie literally on the fly from their entrance fold on the roof. The vaccine was real enough, but they both knew that the magical familiar of the Heart of Earth wasn't at any risk. The pretext of getting him to the clinic for a booster was just what they needed to get him out of the house unobtrusively, though.

"Oh? Oh well, then." Harold Hale stood up, digging for his wallet. "How much is it, Olsen?"

"I don't remember, at the moment," Matt said, suddenly wishing they'd made the extra pit-stop at his grandfather's veterinary clinic to make their story more plausible.

"_Bill him later," _a quiet voice whispered from by his feet. Matt looked down to see the black cat in question nonchalantly sniffing at his left shoe. Napoleon looked up at him and winked.

"Tell you what, Mister Hale. I'll send the bill back with Cornelia and Napoleon tonight. Okay?" Matt smiled winningly, just as his girlfriend's teammate came back up the hall. She was holding the cat carrier Elizabeth Hale had bought the day after Will Vandom had given her family the uncanny animal.

"C'mon, Napoleon," Cornelia cooed, setting the carrier down and scratching the back of it to entice the cat inside. It was all an act of course, but Napoleon decided he may as well make it look real for the audience anyway.

Arching himself into a stretch up Matt's leg, Napoleon extended his claws just enough to irritate his fellow Regent without doing any real damage through the teen boy's jeans. He mewed disdainfully, and swished his tail in Cornelia's direction. The Guardian girl rolled her eyes, biting her cheek so she wouldn't laugh at his antics.

"Come on pal, this is for your own good," Matt said cheerily, leaning down and getting hold of his partner's paws, still latched to his pantleg. As soon as he had physical contact, he telepathically told the cat _"Emergency council in Candracar, Cat-man. Let's just get out of here. Save the act for next time." _He shrugged infinitesimally when the cat looked up at him shrewdely, conveying his resignation about the situation as best as possible. Napoleon sighed, and 'let' Matt maneuver him into the carrier, so they could leave that much quicker.

"Be back as soon as possible, fam," Cornelia said to her parents and sister, standing back up with the now-full carrier.

"Just don't let them hurt him," Lillian said distractedly, already sucked into the movie. Harold and Elizabeth just waved good-naturedly, and settled back with her.

"Get me outta here so I can get outta this thing," Napoleon rumbled quietly to the pair, scratching at the inside of the carrier unconvincingly. Matt and Cornelia gave each other furtive grins for their successful plan, and ran for it.

_Enemy_

Eric showed 'Wow!#1' to Mira while Hay relieved her tension-aggravated bladder. The three then started calling the other agents of Candracar on Earth.

Irma picked up right away at Hay Lin's call. _"Cass had to work, Hay-hay. We gotta come back for her after eight."_ Hay grumbled for a second, but then agreed with the two Water Guardians that Cassidy was better off maintaining her own semblance of normalcy.

Mira meanwhile got no answer at the Browns' home, while Eric was busy filling Matt and Cornelia in on Mira's addition.

"So we're two Regents out of three stronger, and you're headed for the third, and we've got our Air Elder, after a fashion," Eric said, after the pair told him they were halfway to the Olsen clinic to collect the final Regent of Earth, Kor Huggles. Hay, overhearing that, told Irma to head on over to the Observatory, so they could all leave through Will's portal once they'd reassembled.

"_Will do, Sprite. See ya in twenty."_ They all counted themselves lucky that Cassidy lived close to Observatory Hill, and waited.

Cornelia, Napoleon and Matt got to the Olsen clinic just as his grandfather Jim was stepping out the front door.

"Oh, good, Matthew! I can leave you in charge until I get back from the bank!" About to lock up, Jim Olsen dropped the clinic keys into Matt's hands instead and promptly disappeared down the street.

"Can this day get any worse?" Matt swore, and opened the door for the three of them. "You two want to telee to the Observatory and tell them I've been 'unavoidably detained'?"

"I think … we can afford … a few minutes' … rest," Cornelia countered, still out of breath from their near-run the whole way from her house. Napoleon chuckled nastily.

"This from the girl looking at getting back on the ice after a year's hiatus." She stuck her tongue out at her sister's cat familiar.

"Found him," they both heard Matt say from a distant corner of the pet supply store that was the front half of the clinic. He'd walked off while they sniped.

"Who?" Cornelia asked.

"Mister Huggles," Matt replied, coming back into view with Will's dormouse friend curled up in his hands. "C'mon, Kor, wake up. We gotta go save the world again. Or at least Hay Lin's world." At the mention of the friendly, hyper Air Guardian, who never failed to give him some nice tidbit to eat whenever he met her, Huggles uncoiled and yawned widely. Napoleon laughed.

"Let me tell the others the sitch," Cornelia said, and dug her phone back out. She called Hay Lin.

"_Hey, Cornelia. Where're you guys at?"_

"We're minding the store for Jim Olsen, Hay-hay. He ran to the bank. Like, literally."

"_Pooh,"_ the Asian girl replied. _"Any idea how long that'll take?"_ Cornelia repeated the question to Matt, who shrugged.

"Worse come to worse, the rest of you go, and I'll catch up when Grandpa gets back," he said.

Kor suddenly transformed to his battle-ready super-body. With a shifting pattern of lights, he glamoured himself to look like Matt. "I'll stay. Help Hay," he said, sounding a little more like his human partner with each word.

"Whoa, you sure about this, pal?" Napoleon asked him. 'Matt' nodded, and sat on the stool behind the counter.

"Bring back dinner. Sweet and sour." The transformed rodent made a show of straightening the countertop up, and smiled at Matt. "Okay?"

"Huh. You've got my vote," Mattt said, and thumped fists with his double. "We'll tell you what's happening when we get back." He turned back to the two Hales. "You ready?" They both nodded, and the trio teletransported to the Observatory to meet up with the others.


	6. Chapter 6

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

A Crossover Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 6

"Goddess, Yanni, I'm so sorry! I don't know how we didn't notice this!" Halinor said after the teens, Napoleon and Mira had all reconvened in Candracar.

"Thank you, Halli. I appreciate the sentiment, even if I _am_ the wrong 'sister'," Mira told her as the two embraced.

"Mira? Oh!" Halinor held her back out to arm's length. "You look good. How's Zachary?"

Mira actually blushed. "He's … fine, Halinor. Let's leave it at that." The teens all looked at each other, Napoleon chuckled, then Hay and Eric both groaned.

"T M I, Aunt Mira," Hay uttered.

"Soooo, some shadowy government agency knows about us … or at least they know about C.h.k.y.n. Any clue they've noticed W.i.t.c.h. yet?" Mira continued.

"Not yet," Hay answered with a sigh that stirred the clouds throughout the Council chamber.

"I wonder if your _other_ grandparents know anything," Irma spouted, her naturally-suspicious daughter-of-a-cop's mind revving into gear. Hay gasped. Will and Cornelia exchanged fresh worried looks, and Elyon burrowed further into her father's reassuring hug.

"_Merde,_ can this get any worse?" the young Queen asked, hoping her question was rhetorical.

"Nu-uh," Taranee said. "From here on in, damage control is our number one priority … at least _on_ Earth, until we sort out who knows what. Hay, you're gonna have to get the rest of those reports." Hay gulped and nodded.

Will nodded too. "Any other advice, Oracle?" the red-haired girl asked. Silent until now, the bald leader of Candracar's Council sat forward and steepled his fingers.

"Without knowing the extent of our compromised security, I am reluctant to render any final decision. The need for stricter measures is a must. I dare say you five had better return to the use of your Astral Drops, as well. I know," he continued, when W.i.t.c.h. all groaned. "They still have their drawbacks, but the alternative could mean the exposure of Magic to Earth's mundane population, which has proven time and again to be largely antithetical to the wondrous in its midst."

"Should we tell Kadma?" Hay and Mira asked simultaneously. Eric and the Oracle both grinned at the supportive smiles the two Lin women gave each other.

"Hardly necessary, I'd think," Halinor responded. "She's been in Zamballa the last twenty years. That's as good as living in the Siberian tundra, as far as staying off the U.S. intel radar is concerned. Heh, probably better! There're no peat farmers to bribe in Zamballa!"

"You do know the Soviet Union is gone, right Halli?" Mira chuckled. She had to remind herself that Halinor had died of cancer years before the Berlin Wall had come down, which marked the beginning of the end for the Soviet regimes.

"Ghu, think we can keep our troubles to one government?" Halinor countered.

"One can only hope," Mira replied. "Hmm, we need to keep the rest of our families from getting in trouble, so I think you girls should send your 'Drops back now. And unless you can produce duplicates of your own, you and Eric ought to go back as well, Matthew."

Earth's Regent and Guardian's Leader traded pensive looks where they sat on the stone bleacher-like seats of the chamber. Then Matt's look turned to one of anticipation, while Will was still worriedly stroking the completely recumbent Napoleon.

Seeing the sudden light in his partner's eyes, Lillian's familiar purred under Will's ministrations. Hay giggled at the sound, which got Taranee and Cornelia's attention. When she saw the dawning excitement on Matt's face, Taranee laughed.

"You've been a Regent for three years, and you never tried to make an Astral Drop before now?" she asked.

"Wellll … not since the second fight with Nerissa, and seeing all the problems you girls kept having with yours …" Matt and Will exchanged another, more embarrassed glance.

After a long pause nobody looked ready to end on their own, Elyon cleared her throat with an "Ooookaayyyy. So why not try it now?"

Matt looked at Napoleon inquiringly. "Go ahead, Mattie. No reason it shouldn't work as well for us as it does the Guardians," the large grey-on-black cat told him.

"That almost makes me think it's a _bad_ idea," Taranee moaned for all of them. She'd had her own share of unfortunate incidents with their team's magical duplicates.

"How about all at once, since we have to call ours out as well?" Will said, standing. Matt and the Guardians converged, the Earth Regent taking the spot between his girlfriend and his Mistress' sister. With six 'Drops to call on, they left a fair amount of room between them all. "All right, everybody concentrate on your own, and …"

"Pord Lartsa!" they each cried, and one by one, their Astral duplicates appeared.

Will's Altermere was the first to blink and wake up from her summons. 'Mina (Will and her duplicate had decided to simply split their overlong name between them.) smiled warmly and embraced the Guardian Leader. "Hey, sis!" Then she straightened visibly under the others' watchful gazes, and snapped off a saucy salute. "Agent Vandom, reporting for duty!"

Hay groaned, never sure when the Altermere was kidding around. Her own Astral Drop, still clearing the mental cobwebs summoning had left her with, echoed her. The other three newly-conjured girls, slightly quicker to recover with less on their minds, all turned with their originators to see Matt's first Astral Drop.

Eric, Eleanor Brown, and the eleven girls all gasped as one.

"Ah, Mattie? I … think you forgot somethin' … Napoleon said, as the ten girls around his partner's duplicate hastily turned their backs, and Alborn covered a now-giggling Elyon's eyes.

Matt's duplicate had appeared, nude and crouching, in the center of the double circle of Guardian girls.

'Matthew? What happened?" Halinor asked, donating a spare robe of her own to cover the Regent's 'Drop.

"Uh … too many Terminator movies last night?" both of them answered. Will, Taranee, Hay and Eric all chuckled. Yesterday had been an in-service half-day, and the bandmates and their girlfriends had whiled away the afternoon watching movies and (occasionally) practicing their newest song in the Olsen family garage. When the others had left at sundown, grinning together, Will and Matt were settling in with the first cyborg slaughter-fest. Apparently Matt had watched the other two after Will had gone as well.

"Well, if someone can show us to a private corner, I can solve the clothes problem," Napoleon said. Cornelia pointed mutely to the Council's necessary, under the backmost level of tiered seats. "C'mon, Mattie One and Mattie Two," the cat continued, his tail waving with his silent laughter as he led the pair away.

With the trio's disappearance, the two sets of girls met in a giant group hug, laughing. "O M G," Elyon said, wiping laugh-tears out of her eyes. "The look on his face when he realized what he'd done …" The others could only nod, still gasping themselves.

"Good morning, _Mei-mei,"_ Hay Lin told her 'Drop. "Well, afternoon, anyway …"

"Hi, _Jei-jei._ Hiiii, Eriiiic," Astral Hay sing-songed, dragging the Air-girl's boyfriend in for a more-than-friendly hug. Irma and Cornelia both groaned, and Taranee and Will exchanged a resigned glance. It was thanks to Hay's duplicate that Eric knew the truth about the Guardians.

In the ongoing conspiracy to ruin the girls' social lives, an emergency had taken Hay and the other Guardians to Candracar to quell an insipient war between two magic-heavy dimensions. Of course this happened in the middle of their 'last day of the summer' date between all the girls and their freshman steadies. Matt had known the circumstances, at least, but that left the Astral Drops in the unsuspecting company of Eric, Nigel, Andrew Hornby, (He'd actually asked _Irma_ out, which was a far cry from her usual Martin-like stalker behavior around him.) and Nick Jones, the then-favorite for the junior varsity soccer team. He and Cornelia had started going out at the beginning of August, after she and Caleb had their worst fight to date. They had since parted ways, but at the time the boys had no clue that they spent the day with Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay's magically conjured twins.

That is until that night, when the exhausted Hay Lin hunted her duplicate and Eric down at the Observatory. She walked out on the roof to find her 'Drop and her boyfriend kissing while watching the sunset. Hay's hurriedly-muffled _'Eeeep!'_ had broken them apart, but it had also exposed the 'Drop - and Hay.

The Air Guardian had had to sit Eric down in the kitchen of the Observatory's kitchen with a strong hot cup of her grandma's best tea, explaining everything for _hours_, before he snapped out of his blank shock. By then, she'd told him all about the Heart of Candracar, the Council, and the Guardians, even the truth about her 'Aunt' Mira, who had come in about halfway through Hay's exposition, and promptly called Yan Lin and the other Guardians. That she didn't just summarily dismiss her Astral double, but had the poor duplicate sit next to her and _help_ remember and explain every last detail, had somehow made the 'Drop more real, like Will's Altermere 'sister'.

Now, Eric squirmed under Mei's (Hay had taken a cue from Mira and 'Mina, and given her 'Drop another 'M' name.) overly friendly attentions. "Hi, Mei."

"Alright you two, fight over Eric later. This is important," Taranee interrupted what was steadily developing. Hay was already glaring daggers at the way Mei had her hands wrapped around Eric's arm.

"Just what is … '_This'_?" Irma's double asked, making air-quotes.

"Mom knows about the Guardians." Mei dropped her hands from Eric, and her jaw, in nascent panic at Hay's utterance. 'Mina and the other 'Drops all gaped, then started asking the "Who-what-when-where-why?"s from #&][.

"Look, we'll tell you guys later!" Will yelled above the cacophony. "Right now, we need you five … well, seven, once Matt and Matt're back from their wardrobe malfunction …" All the girls giggled at the reminder. "We need you guys to cover for us in Heatherfield with the 'rents while we find out what we can, okay?"

The Astral Drops all agreed, Mei reluctantly (until she heard that Eric was going back to Earth, too.)

"I'd better go back as well," Mira said to Halinor.

"You should come back next time Yanni does," the former Fire Guardian told her. "It might be the only way we can beat her at Mahjongg." "The elder women, now reunited, got together regularly to gossip and meddle like all grandparents. Yan Lin had dug out her old Mahjongg set and left it in Candracar with Halinor for their meetings.

They had even connived Luba and Althor into playing with them once. The Keeper of the Aurameres had proven a tad (Cassidy said a LOT) _too_ competitive, while the dwarven historian of the Council had tried to revive the gambling aspect of the game.

The trio of boys came back from the necessary then, the 'Drop wearing Matt's normal clothes, and Matt transformed to his Shagon form. Will looked from one to the other, a strange smile lighting her features, until Taranee gave her a private mental _"Ahem!"_

"_I know, it's like the ultimate before and after picture, but try to reel in those raging hormones, Will. We've still got five impossible things to do before dinner, including talking to Cass, and I think you're our best bet to help Hay get all those files at once."_ Taranee pushed her glasses higher. "You know, it couldn't hurt to tell Kadma after all, Halli. Maybe she'll remember something from then that's important."

"_That's_ our class prez in action," Cornelia raved, throwing an arm around Taranee's shoulders. The Astral Drops all cheered, getting into the spirit of things. Then, the Fire 'Drop's expression fell.

Her progenitor went over and asked, "What's wrong, Rhea?"

Smiling shyly at the name she'd been gifted with, Rhea turned to look at Taranee. "You know so much; what if someone asks me something I should know as you, but I don't?"

"There's you answer in a nutshell," Taranee beamed at her. "If somebody asks you something you can't answer, just tell 'em you don't remember because of all the _other_ stuff you _do_, Rhea."

"Yeah, dazzle 'em with random facts like square roots and _pi_ to sixteen places and how many chief justices there are," Irma crowed. The last time the girls had to call their Astral Drops, the five duplicates had ended up playing Trivial Pursuit ™ in Irma's room, and the Fire 'Drop had trounced the others, intellectually. 'Mina had told her Guardian 'sister' Will about it afterward, who'd passed it on.

"I think you mean Supreme Justices, Irma, and there are nine," Rhea retorted.

"I rest my case," Irma replied, and her 'Drop and Mei both giggled.

"Okay, I'm lost," Matt Two said. He turned to 'Mina, the only one of the 'Drops he was familiar with, thanks to Matt One. "Since when did you girls start using different names? And who's who?"

"Yeah," Shagon seconded, just as perplexed. Mei giggled again.

"Ooooh, let me explain, 'Mina! It's all my doing anyway." The other girls all rolled their eyes, and Hay groaned.

"Too True, Mei; first things first, though. A D's, sound off!" The five duplicate girls lined up, and each stepped forward and shook both Matts' hands as they introduced themselves.

"Me you met first," the Altermere said. "At the dance three years ago; I'm 'Mina."

"Lucky girl," Irma and Cornelia's 'Drops both sighed. Will shushed them, her expression warring between a smile and a grimace. She couldn't help remembering all that had happened that night, with her Altermere's creation and awakening, the fight with each other and then Nerissa, and 'Mina's self-sacrifice. Little did they know that she would reemerge from her 'sister' the next time the Guardians summoned their Astral Drops.

"And I know you've heard all about me," Mei said next. "Hay called me _mei-mei_ that night, which is 'little sister' in Chinese, and it stuck." She gave her _jei-jei_ a mock-glare, and the two oriental girls giggled.

"Taranee started calling me Rhea almost right away, after our grandma Cook," the self-conscious Asian-African-American 'Drop said, giving Matt Two a small smile. She turned to Shagon. "It was the girls' way of talking to – and about – us without going schizoid, or sounding like it around _other _people, at least." She grinned over her shoulder at Will and 'Mina, who both hung their heads.

"What's up with that?" Shagon asked in his deeper version of Matt's voice.

"Tell ya later," Will squeaked.

"I'm Jayne," Cornelia's double interrupted. This was taking _forever_, and she still had skate practice to get to. "Long story short, I have Cornelia's middle name, which was _her_ grandma's name. And it's Jayne, with a Y in the middle." She drew the pronunciation out purposefully.

"Oh, pu-LEASE, Janey," Irma's 'Drop teased. "You look like you're chewing your face every time you do that." She came forth and wrapped a friendly arm around each Matt's shoulders, and winked saucily at Will and the others.

"So … what do we call you this week?" Irma asked, knowing her doppelganger was prone to outrageous self-reinvention at the drop of a hat. _'Speak of the diva.'_ Irma added to herself as her 'Drop produced a red baseball cap from her back pocket that exactly countered Irma's own blue one.

Donning the wide-brimmed hat at a rakish angle that covered one eye, her 'Drop grinned. "Just call me Carmen."

All of the others traded confused looks for several seconds, then with a _'Peep,'_ Rhea cracked up, followed by Taranee, Hay, and Elyon.

"What? _What's so funny?" _May begged, hating being on the outside of a joke from her 'older sister'.

Taranee was the first one able to recover enough to answer. "Where … _(giggle)_ in the … _(heh)_ … world is … _(gasp)_ Carmen Sandiego!" And she started laughing again.

"Darn, you got me, Judge Cook," the Water double smirked, and took her hat off with a sweeping bow. Irma slapped her own forehead.

"Of course! We were playing it all last week in Geography class!"

"You'll find your next clue in the only country that's also a continent," Hay intoned, her Air affinity letting her sound just like the voice from the computer game.

"Oasstrailie-ya!" Mei countered in a frighteningly accurate down-under accent.

Not to be outdone, Eric and then the two Matts started an impromptu vocal beat. Sheffield Dee-jay Irma, recognizing the tune from too many years of radio and television, laughed and joined in.

"'_Well, she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia … Tell me, where …'"_

'"_In the world, is …'"_ Eric supplied the next line, making his voice sound high-pitched and robotic.

"'_Carmen Sandiego?'"_ Shagon finished, dropping his own voice even deeper to a bass. The 'Drops all clapped, the other Guardians – especially Will and Taranee (too used to this kind of musical mischief with their band-member boyfriends) – and Elyon groaned, and Napoleon and Mira smiled tolerantly.

"Introductions over?" the cat asked the teens good-naturedly. "Done with the show-tunes? Then it's show_time,_ boys and girls. All ashore that's goin' ashore." Napoleon opened a new fold back to the Heatherfield Observatory. W.i.t.c.h. and their Astral Drops, sobered by the feline Regent's intervention, queued up to return to Earth. Elyon reached out and nabbed Will and Hay's sleeves as their duplicates disappeared with Mira and Eric.

"You guys want somewhere safe to get those files from? With three Hearts around, I can pretty much guarantee a secure connection at my place." She grinned past Will to Shagon, knowing he'd accompany the redhead.

"Go on ahead … I'll be along in a few minutes," Matt said distractedly, as he gave his first 'Drop an encouraging thumbs-up before the new boy left behind Carmen Lair. "I'm going to go get Huggles from the store … and a second set of clothes for when I change back. He's wearing most of mine …" He was never more glad of Shagon's golden mask than just then; it hid his raging blush from most of the other Guardians and the Oracle at Will sudden speculative glance. Catching sight of both, (the blush with her heat-awareness,) Taranee hid her smile behind her hand.

"T M I, Olsen," Cornelia said, rolling her eyes. She was busy telepathically wishing her double good luck at 'their' practice. Jayne waggled her fingers back in thanks and farewell, and the fold closed behind her.

"So … what do we need, gang?" Irma asked.

"My laptop … Mister Huggles … _and_ Cassidy … Matt's clothes," Hay Lin added with a smirk in his direction. Shagon rolled his whole head in lieu of his eyes.

"And Huggles' dinner," he returned with a nod. "Sweet and sour, his usual." Will groaned and dug out her wallet.

"I guess it's my turn to feed the bottomless dormouse," she muttered with a sigh.

"Nah, I got it this time, Will," Cornelia told her. "Just make it two orders, Hay-hay. I think Napoleon's _more _than earned it, tonight."

"Definitely," Taranee said, grinning down at the purring cat. "Oh, we need one more thing; something to save all the reports on! I'll see if I've got a spare thumb-drive at my place."

"It better be a big one," Irma retorted. "Twice-weekly reports for the last twenty-odd years?" She rolled her eyes. "I bet there's an ancient Cray somewhere with nothing but C.h.k.y.n. info on it." Taranee chuckled.

"You gotta watch something besides 'Hackers', Irma. Though you're probably right about the medium if they've been record-keeping since Cass' untimely accident." (They had all started calling her aborted demise that since about a week after Cedric's defeat, when the Oracle had assured Cassidy's worried friends that _"Yes, she is here to stay."_)

"Soooo, three folds, coming up," Will said. She, Matt and Elyon nodded together, and Will opened a fold to the Silver Dragon for Hay Lin while Regent and Queen opened two more to their own homes.

"Here," Cornelia said, handing Will a ten-dollar bill. "If it's more just let me know; I'll give you the difference later. That's all I've got on me."

"Thanks, C. Ready, Sprite?" The Air girl gave their leader a fretful nod. This would be the first time she _knew_ she was going home to a whole family that knew about the Guardians.

Catching onto her best friend's mood, Irma stepped over and gave her a hug. "It'll be okay, Hay-hay. Now relax, before they _do_ get suspicious," she added with a wink. Then she walked over by Matt. "I'll help with Huggles. I've gotta get more turtle food anyway. Leafy's almost out."

"Oh, hey, remember to grab Napoleon's carrier, okay Irma? Lillian'll never let me live it down if I forget it … again."

"Sure, Corny," Irma smirked, grabbing Shagon's vest and ducking through his fold with him in tow.

"_Don't call me ..!"_ Cornelia started.

"Too late," Elyon chuckled, laughing along with the others at Irma's long-standing rib at her best friend's expense.

"You know she only still does that 'cause she knows it'll get to you, right?" Taranee told Cornelia. The blonde girl just fanned her hair dismissively on handed, and turned with her to follow Elyon and her parents back to the Browns' Earthly home.

"That's our cue, ladies," Napoleon said to the last two Guardians. He had decided to stick with Hay and Will as an extra precaution. He wanted to get a better look at Joan Lin for himself, as well as check up on Yan's health for the Council. Halinor had quietly requested that of him while the others were all busy with the Astral Drops' meet-&-greet.

The three magical defenders took their leave of the Oracle and Halinor, and leaped through to Hay's room above her family's Chinese restaurant.


	7. Chapter 7

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

An Espionage Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 7

The Astral brigade was walking from the Observatory towards their respective homes when they crossed paths with Cassidy. They were all passing the Heatherfield Mall when the Water-girl nearly plowed Mei and 'Mina down with her ancient Vespa. Only the pair of Altermeres' quick reflexes saved them.

"Heyyyy, what's the rush, Cass?" Mei yelped, rubbing her shin where she'd bopped it against a light pole while jumping out of the way.

"Huh? I thought I was meeting someone at home to get to … Can-can class," Cassidy blurted. She eyed the six magical duplicates before her.

"Subtle, Cassiedile," Carmen said, as she simultaneously heeded her inner Irma's reminder of the earlier warning, and rolled her eyes at the obvious code-phrase.

"Well ..?" Cass shrugged.

"Class got canceled. Did'ja read _your_ _note?"_ Carmen continued.

"Oh! Yeah," Cassidy replied, turning to give a sympathetic look to Mei. "Soooo, how bad _is_ it?"

"That, we're still finding out," Rhea supplied. "Or at least, our other halves are, while we cover the home front … fronts."

"Oh! You're the Ast ..." 'Mina quickly clapped a hand over Cassidy's mouth.

"Yeah, and ixnay on the opdray, okay? I have no idea _or_ desire to see if I can re-conjure them if something happens."

"Sorry …" Cass murmured under her hand.

"_S'arriiiightt ..."_ Carmen drawled. 'Mina moved her hand while Jayne rolled her eyes.

"Let's get moving, gang. I've still got to get to skate practice, here." She wafted her hair back one-handed, just like Cornelia.

"Ooooh, that's right!" Mei sang.

"Hey, if we're still in time for _Corny_ to get to practice, what're you doing out of work already?" Carmen asked Cass.

"Oh, I told my boss when I got there that my 'Grams' wasn't feeling well when I left for work, and he let me go early. It was slow tonight anyway. I didn't even have to wait for break to read the … class note"

"Then you know as much as we do," Matt Two said from 'Mina's side. "The others went to Elyon's to see what else they could find out, and we're … late, ladies. Let's get Janey … sorry, _Jayne," _he amended at the blonde girl's glare, "to practice, and go cover for our Guardians, okay?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," 'Mina appended with a quick kiss to his cheek.

She turned back around too fast to see the sneer of disdain that overtook his features.

"Ooh, don't forget to call your folks to get home, _Cornelia,"_ Mei chirped.

"What? Why?" the blonde 'Drop demanded.

"Oh, that curfew tonight, right, Mei-mei?" Rhea countered.

"Uh-huh," the Air Altermere replied, nodding. She and the others looked pointedly at Carmen.

"Why's everybody looking at me?" Irma's double asked. Then more of her originator's memories bubbled to the surface, and she gulped. "Oh, _right._ A J, who looks like Irma … and _me."_ Her voice squeaked at the end, and she made an obvious double-take of her watch. "Time to get home," she blurted, linking arms with Mei and Rhea and turning them all purposefully back towards downtown.

"Nuh-uh," 'Mina told them, grabbing hold of the back of Carmen's collar. "No splitting up. We get 'Cornelia' to practice, then we escort each other home."

"Er, how's that s'posed to work?" Cassidy asked her. "If you all go to each house, how're any of you actually getting home?"

"Strength in numbers," 'Mina said, echoing Eric's phrase from earlier. "We get each girl home, but glamour up likenesses of them at each stop like we're all getting together for a sleepover."

"In other words, your usual gathering trick, with a twist," Matt chuckled.

"We present a united front, even alone," Rhea said sagely, nodding along with 'Mina.

"Cool," Cassidy said, smiling. "Well, hey … my house is a block from the rink. How about we drop this thing off and I go for the walk with you?" she asked, indicating her scooter.

"_NO!"_ All the 'Drops cried together. Cass practically fell off her Vespa from their vehemence.

"Jeez, alright, ya don't have ta bite my head off," Cassidy grumped. "What's the big deal, anyway?"

So they told her.

"Ohmigod, this … you think this creep is after Irma?" she gasped.

"I'd say the odds're better'n average," Carmen slurred, thinking back to the haunted look Tom Lair had given his daughter at the assembly.

"Hey, schedule to keep, here," Jayne told them, swishing her hair again.

"Alright, let's get 'Corny' to practice, and the rest of us home," Mei chirped, Hay Lin's normally 'up' nature shining through her duplicate. The other Astral Drops took it as a good sign, and headed towards the Heatherfield Rink.

At some point, Cassidy started singing a classic 'ear-worm', and the girls finished their marches home humming Willie Nelson's _"On the Road Again."_

_Enemy_

'Mina saw the Fire 'Drop home at last, called up a glamour of Taranee, and turned with her ghostly group of triplicates to go back to her own family's apartment. Less than a block later, she let the inane chatter she was maintaining between herself and the others to die away for a minute, listening intently.

She could have sworn she'd heard someone whistling softly nearby. It wasn't the dratted song Cass had gotten them stuck with, but it was familiar … 'Mina gasped. _It was Wreck's "The Demon in Me"!_

"Matt?" she called softly. 'Mina concentrated on the group of glamoured Guardians around her, having each one look in a different direction while she opened her consciousness to the surrounding area. _"C'mon … frontman,"_ she added telepathically. She grumbled to herself for a second. She really _hadn't_ been 'out' much recently if it took her that long to remember what Will was calling her boyfriend this week. _"If that's you, it's safe to come out ..."_ 'Mina and the others had dropped Matt Two off almost half an hour earlier, between their stops at Hay and Irma's.

The faint whistler changed tunes, and 'Mina recognised the theme song from 'True Blood'. Taranee had gotten the others all hooked when she found out that her favorite guilty-pleasure novels were going to TV-land. Now, 'Mina listened as her mystery whistler serenaded her with the chorus of Jace Everett's _"Bad Things"_.

_'Ah, _jeez,' 'Mina sighed, unconsciously borrowing Irma's oft-used line. She blushed as well when the song's lyrics came to mind in time with the tune. _"Matt, if that isn't you ..."_ she sent, leading her glamoured company around the corner into an alley, where she dispelled them.

"It is, and it isn't," a familiar voice said from right behind her.

"Matt!" 'Mina gasped, whirling. She could have sworn he wasn't there a second ago. "Hey … weren't you ..?" She pointed to where the whistling had been coming from. He grinned.

"Simple misdirection. Mei showed me once how to throw my voice." He waggled his eyebrows as he wrapped his arms around her and reeled her in for a kiss.

"Maammph!" she started, only to lose message and thought both under his insistent ministrations. With a burst of static shock, 'Mina got his questing tongue away from her mouth and breathing room between their bodies. _"Matt!"_ she hissed. "What the _#&][!"_

"You have no idea how long he's wanted to do that," he chuckled.

"Matt Two," 'Mina uttered. "Why track me down now? You could have just stayed with us when we dropped off Mei."

"I had to deliver Kor's dinner," he replied. "And tell him where to meet the others."

'Then … what? You decided to come indulge your other half's more lecherous fantasies?"

"Something like that," Matt's 'Drop said with a disturbing grin. He pulled her back in for a slower, more thorough kiss, and 'Mina sighed guiltily against him.

"We really shouldn't ..." she began and swayed on her feet when he let her step away finally. "Whoa. I know kissing can make you light-headed, but ..." She reached out to steady herself against the nearest building, but Matt Two pulled her to him instead.

"Hang in there, Angel-mina. We're just getting started ..."

"S'how come I feel finished ..." she asked fuzzily, leaning harder against him. "Help me home?" 'Mina looked up into Matt's eyes, belatedly mad that the light was so bad in this alley. She could have sworn it was brighter here.

"No problem, 'Mina," he said with a condescending smirk. She was such a lightweight, he'd have to take his time with his plans, he realised. Wrapping his arms back around her, he teletransported them both to the hall outside her 'sister's apartment.

Knocking on the door, he propped her up while they waited. _'… Now!' _He spun and locked lips with a still-staggering 'Mina as the door opened to reveal Susan Vandom.

"What is it, Maa … WILL!" Sue cried.

"Mom?" 'Mina gasped, wrenching loose of Matt Two's arms unsteadily.

"Get some rest, sweetheart," Matt said with a wink. He took off down the hall and then the stairs before she or her mother could reply.

"What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" Susan grilled as she practically yanked 'Mina into the Vandoms' apartment.

"Uh, he kinda caught me by surprise, out there ..."

"He did? Or _I_ did?" Sue asked, crossing her arms.

"_Matt_ did! _Sheesh!"_ 'Mina threw her hands up, falling onto the couch. She landed harder than she intended to. "It's not like he _warns_ me when he's gonna kiss me ..."

"Well, maybe he should start," Susan retorted, doing her best to hide the sudden smile she felt at her daughter's surliness. It reminded her of arguments she'd had with her own mother. "Did you all stop at the Silver Dragon for dinner?"

"Er, no … We just stopped long enough to get Mei-mei home," 'Mina grunted.

"Mei-mei?" Now Susan _did_ smile. The girls were forever giving each other new nicknames.

"Yeah," 'Mina chuckled nervously. _'Don't panic!'_ "It's … 'little sister' in Chinese … and she _is_ the youngest of us ..."

Susan chuckled as well. "It's cute. And slightly more dignified than Hay-hay, I think. Alright, come on, I expected you'd stopped somewhere, so I was just warming some leftovers. An extra serving isn't any trouble ..." She stopped halfway into the kitchenette, turning around to see that Will hadn't moved yet. _At ALL._ Any other day, and her always-hungry daughter would have beaten her through the door … "Will? What's the matter?"

"I'm just … tired, Mom. None of us had our bikes, and we all walked each other home, until it was just me … and Matt ..."

"Well, that explains why you're not getting home until nearly seven, at least," Sue sighed. "So why wasn't _Matt_ tired?" she teased.

"Prob'ly 'cause he wasn't there for the whole trip," 'Mina grumped. She wasn't even sure why she was suddenly so upset. It wasn't like Matt was _her_ boyfriend. "We dropped him and Hay off first, on the way to Corny's skate practice, and he caught back up with me at Taranee's and got me ho … ommmme," she yawned suddenly. "Just in time, 'parently ..." She grabbed hold of the couch arm with both hands to pull herself back to her feet. _'Why am I this _tired?' she couldn't help wondering.

Susan leaped forward to catch 'Mina as she got nearly upright, then crumpled to the floor, dead asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

"_**My Own Worst Enemy"**_

An Espionage Adventure starring W.i.t.c.h.

By: _**A J**_

Standard Disclaimer applies, please don't sue.

Chapter 8

'Mina hadn't been gone ten minutes when there was a knock at the Cooks' front door. Lionel answered, and drew up imposingly at the sight of his little girl's long-time beau. "Yes, Mister Ashcroft?"

"Heya, Mister Cook. Is Taranee in?"

"Yes, as you very well know. You should be home as well. The curfew is for _all_ school age residents, Nigel."

"Yeah, I'm headed home from work now, Mister Cook. I … just wanted to say good night to Taranee. In person …" Nigel let his voice drop off, as Lionel Cook just eyed him stonily for a moment. Then …

"TARANEE!" Lionel bellowed. "DOOR!" He stepped off to one side as the girl of all Nigel's dreams came jogging dutifully out at her dad's summons, flushed from the run.

"What is it, Daddy … OH! Hey, Nigel!" She stepped out onto the porch and gave Nigel an enthusiastic hug and a long, if rather chaste, kiss. She giggled when Lionel growled behind her, turning to see her source's male parent eyeing them gruffly.

"Wow! Hi T'ree," Nigel managed, blushing fit to match his Irish hair under Lionel's glare.

"Nigel just stopped by … to say good night," the exasperated father said. He glanced significantly at his watch, and they both got the message.

"Oh, right … the curfew," Rhea sighed. She turned back to Nigel. "So … I'll see you tomorrow." She held tighter to his hand, letting that sensory memory soak in for Taranee's return later.

"Yeah, tomorrow," Nigel replied. "Well … good night Taranee …" He pulled her in for another quick kiss, mindful of her litigious-minded father still standing there. They parted slowly, and he didn't take his eyes from hers until he was off the porch and their hands parted.

Rhea watched as he climbed back into his family's second-hand car and drove off with one last wave. Then she turned to head back in, only to find Lionel still standing there. His expression had softened considerably with Nigel's glacial departure, and the dreamy smile he'd seen on both teens' faces.

"So … saying good night … _in person_ … it's … _cute_." He grinned mischievously.

"_Daddy_ ..." Rhea sputtered, her head lowered and her cheeks flaming. He just nabbed the tip of her chin, making her look up at him again.

"It _is_ cute, honey. And, I can see why you two are still together. It's not just a crush after all, is it?"

"I … I don't think so, Daddy." Rhea couldn't hide the shy smile that took her blush away.

"You know, much as I hate to admit this as your father … I like him, too, Taranee. When this … unmentionable … is caught, and Heatherfield's back to normal, we'll talk about your normal curfew. _No promises_," he added at her excited _'Eeeep!'_ "C'mon inside, it's getting dark, honey." They went back to their individual nightly pursuits.

Lionel returned to the Final Four game he and Peter were watching while Rhea sat at Taranee's vanity in 'their' room. Before she continued the now-boring (compared to real life) paper on Romeo & Juliet for lit class, she spent several minutes just looking at her reflection in the mirror in front of her, making sure the image would stick in her mind. Then she said clearly to Taranee's face as it looked back, "Lucky girl."

_Enemy_

Jayne spun her way through her finishing triple-axle, made her landing, and shuished to a halt in front of her family and her coach, Antoni Rozhenko.

"Goot vork, Cornilia," Antoni grunted, while Lillian cheered. "You yust haf to add a _manera_*1 more zpeed before ze finish, for ze lift, and you will be back to ze compititionz like zat Mirai Nagazu."

"Thank you, _Trener_*2," Jayne responded with a satisfied nod, and smiled. As often as Cornelia had been practicing her routing lately, Jayne was doubly glad that she'd remembered all of it. Apparently the magic that made Astral Drops possible was also capable of duplicating skills and talents when needed after all, despite the early mishaps the girls had experienced with their doubles. When Cornelia had summoned her earlier tonight, and the whole emergency had been made clear, the nagging worry had occurred to Jayne that her mystically-made body wouldn't be able to pull off the maneuvers that Cornelia had learned through countless hours of dedicated practice. Now she knew better. She itched to call Elyon and tell her too, like any normal Earth girl, but realized that the young queen and the others were probably super-busy with all the Guardian business they had going on.

"All right, honey," Harold Hale told his daughter's doppelganger. "Let's get us all home. Coach Rozhenko, as always, a pleasure. We'll see you next week, yes?"

"_Da_. But _nyet_ the week after," Antoni snorted down his moustache with a grin. "Iz my anniwirziry. Thirty-three yearz, my Katyarra and I haf."

"Well, congratulations, and many happy returns," Harold told the older man while the three females '_Aawwww'_ed' next to them. Lillian giggled afterwards.

"Soooo," she needled Jayne as the latter sat to take off her skates. "Does that give you any ideas on how to pick between Caleb and Peter?"

"No, it does _not_, little Miss Nosy," Jayne huffed, now working on the second skate. Though now that the little pest had mentioned them, thoughts of both of Cornelia's prospective boyfriends started to race through her brain. _'Hmm, time to settle some of those questions for myself ... and Cornelia,_' Jayne mused, slipping her flats on and sliding the blade-guards on her source's skates.

_Enemy_

Will and Hay finished with their massive download, Taranee sorted the pile of files onto flash drives by decade, and the Guardians and Regents started sifting through them for anything relevant.

"Jeez, who'd've thought the Seventies could be this _boring_" Irma whined after a half-hour. Cornelia just grunted in agreement, checking the latter half of the same decade.

"I hate to say it, but there's really not much more in the Eighties," Matt sighed. He pushed back and rubbed his eyes.

"Except the end of the watch on Halinor," Elyon said, turning her screen for the others to give it a once-over.

"I wonder who this Agent Flamel is," Taranee muttered, tapping the screen.

"We can ask Agent Zephyr later," Hay returned, with a sad expression. She had taken the new century's entries for herself, determined to be the one to find out whether her mother knew about them. None of them envied her the job. "Along with who Agent Daedalus really is. The reports from him start right after we started at Sheffield."

"Well, that could be anybody," Cornelia said, going back to her files.

Will, sifting through the end of the sixties, jumped when the Browns' computer before her gave a _'BEEP!'_ The too-loud noise made all the others in the quiet room look her way as well. "What is it, Mavrice?" she asked Aldarn's MacBook.

"Pardon, Mistress Vandom, but that computer you all have shown such interest in just logged a fresh report from a local server."

"_WHAT_!" Hay cried, leaping across the room. "Mavrice, can you dsplay that new report?" She was shaking as she asked, her nerves were so taut.

"Certainly, Guardian." What came up on screen got everyones' attention.

FILE #: NPSA 74988

REPORTING AGENT: Daedalus

Possibility of imminent attack; Subject: Vandom, W. was taken into Emergency Care for 'electrolytic depletion and physical exhaustion.' (see attached hospital file). Subject was last known to be in the presence of Subject: Olsen, M. before collapse. Surveillance to continue.

END REPORT.

"The _#&][?_" Will blurted, amid gasps from most of the other girls and an anguished cry from Hay Lin.

"Mavrice, shut that link down," Matt charged harshly. "_Now._" With a whirr and a beep, the MacBook complied.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod …" Taranee started when the implication hit her. "Will ... _who's watching YOU?"_

"I think I know who Daedalus is," Thomas Alborn Brown said. When all the others turned his way expectantly, he stood straighter, trying to lend some authority to his idea. "As a Royal Guard, I kept close track of new arrivals to Heatherfield over the years. A new teacher at our daughter's new school had me briefly curious, but then all the business with Cedric and Metamoor drove it out my mind." He cleared his throat, "Mister Collins. Dean Collins is Daedalus; he's got to be. He's the only one that's been that close to you and your mother, and also been able to see what goes on at the school," he added, tapping the report currently on Hay's Lappy's screen.

"That son of a _8!+(#!"_ Will seethed, her hair sparking with static discharge. Matt stood and wrapped his arms reassuringly around her. Then a fresh worry occurred to him.

"Hey… this just got filed," he shot out. "That mean something happened with the _A.D.'s_, gang. Kor, Napoleon, stay with Lillian, I'm gonna go find 'Subject: Olsen, M'." His brow dropped.

"With backup," Will said. She looked around. "Cornelia, go with the Regents. Hay-hay, we'll help Matt, invisible. T, Irma, you two stay on this … we need to know _everything_."

"Gotcha," Cornelia and Irma both said, getting a strained chuckle from Elyon.

"We'll help these two," Miriadel said, taking Matt's abandoned seat.

"Get going … and good luck," Alborn told the two trios before they all left, Cornelia just remembering Napoleon's carrier in time.

_Enemy_

Cornelia, Huggles, and Napoleon arrived on her doorstep seconds before the curfew's start. Huggles transformed himself back into Matt again, Napoleon hopped in his carrier with a disgruntled sigh, and the harried Earth-girl hid around the corner to the stairwell. 'Matt' knocked.

"I've got it," Elizabeth told Harold from the kitchen. She was putting the finishing touches on Lillian's birthday cupcakes, for school. Too busy to make them from scratch, she'd compromised, bought three dozen pre-baked chocolate-frosted chocolate monstrosities from the corner bakery, and was now adding little piping '_L_'s, '7's and candy florets to each one, as well as putting candles in a Ziploc ® for each she'd finished. Her older daughter's best friend Elyon had made her a banner in their Art class last week, which Elizabeth took great pains to keep hidden for the next weekend's party.

Peeking out through the peephole, Elizabeth smirked. Matt had kept Napoleon so Cornelia wouldn't have to bring him to the rink with her. Apparently the cat and the boy's girlfriend's dormouse weren't getting along thought, for here was Napoleaon, carrier and all.

"How _do_ you get him in there? The girls can never manage," she asked with a grin after she'd opened the door for them.

"Bribery," 'Matt' answered after a telepathic prompt from Napoleon. He grinned toothily. Elizabeth chuckled and pointed out Lillian's room. Younger daughter and father were entrenched with the end of the latest Harry move still, and Cornelia – so far as she knew – was puttering away on her homework.

"Just put his carrier in her closet and leave him to roam," she started to say, closing the door. There was a sudden clatter in the kitchen. "Shoot … you better not be in those cupcakes, young lady!" Elizabeth gave the door a final swing, headed in the other direction to check.

Kor sent out a telekinetic snare to stop the latch at the last second, and Cornelia snuck in behind them. "This is getting _so_ old," she muttered, popping the lock on Napoleon's cage open. He bounded out and into the living room to check on his Mistress.

"_Napoleon!"_ the nearly seven-year-old squealed, and seconds later he reappeared, firmly ensnared in Lillian's arms. He looked despairingly at the pair of his magical allies.

"Sorry, Charlie," Cornelia chuckled, reaching out and ruffling his fur, then Lillian's hair. Harold Hale appeared behind them.

"So what's the damage, Olsen?" he asked good-naturedly, reaching for his wallet. 'Matt' blinked a couple of times, then his toothy smile returned.

"On the house," he rumbled. His grin redirected to Lillian and Cornelia.

The youngest Hale, fresh from a mushy scene with Harry and Ginny, looked from her sister to 'Matt' and back, and grinned as well. "_Ooooh_, so does Caleb have _more_ competition?" Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Not likely, pipsqueak. Anyway, I think Will'd prefer pet-boy here kept breathing, so don't even _THINK that_ one again." She turned back to Huggles. "Thanks for bringing him home, Matt." She lay a fingertip on Napoleon's paw for a second, relaying a quick micro-message. Napoleon sent it on to his partner with a feline crinkle of his eyes.

"Gotta go… Grandpa's waiting," 'Matt' said, holding a hand out for Harold to shake. Harold took it confusedly, and Huggles shook his whole arm heartily. "See ya later, Lilli-gator," he shot the sisters' way and left.

"Here, I got that … I gotta get back to my homework," Cornelia said, taking the empty carrier. She chucked it into Lillian's closet and ducked into her room through the least possible amount of open doorway.

Jayne looked up from 'their' Macbook, where she was cursing at Cornelia's Algebra II homework. "Hey, sis. So … how bad is it?"

"Oh, it's bad, Jayne. Missus Lin isn't alone for starters," Cornelia sighed, flumping back on her bed. Jayne gasped out another curse, "Yeah, our sentiments exactly, Jayne. One of 'em's Mister Collins…"

"How'd you find _that_ out?" Jayne squeaked.

"He posted a report while we were still sorting the rest of them … Which reminds me! Did something happen with 'Mina while you girls were out?"

"No," Jayne admitted. "But I was dropped off first, for practice … Which reminds _me_. No practice in two weeks, for Antoni and Katyarra's anniversary."

"Ooh, that's right," Cornelia smiled. "I've got to remember to get them something."

"So … Dean Collins ..?" Jayne redirected.

"Yeah," Cornelia grumbled. "Well, at least he's spending most of his time tracking 'Subject Vandom, S.' and her daughter."

"So the government _does_ know about W.I.T.C.H.?"

"Looks like it," her originator sighed. "How's homework going?"

"Math's almost done. _Killing_ me, but almost done," Jayne smiled.

"If you can finish it, I'll get some of this read," Cornelia replied, holding up her English book. They were supposed to be reading Hamlet, but thanks to Guardian duties and regular teen life, Cornelia hadn't gotten more than five pages in. She suspected Irma hadn't even gotten that far.

"What if someone comes in?" her 'Drop asked, glancing at the door.

"Hmm … I'll read over here," Cornelia responded, taking Hamlet and settling at her vanity in the far corner, the last place anyone coming in her door would glance towards. The two settled into their respective tasks, humming quietly to themselves, until Cornelia realized they'd both been crooning the same Meridian song. It had been performed at a fair she'd gone to with Caleb. She shot a grin at her double. "We should do this more often, Sis," she said, adopting Will's usual address for 'Mina.

"_Def_initely," Jayne grinned back. They returned to finishing 'their' homework.

Out on the Hales' patio, Kor sat in vigil, eating the last of his vegetarian sweet and sour dinner.

_Enemy_

Hay, Matt, and Will stepped into the alley behind Saint Nicholas Hospital's ambulance garage and immediately fanned out. Matt and Will opened their respective mystical senses, feeling for where Matt Two or 'Mina were. They immediately found Will's Altermere, in a bed on the third floor of the hospital, already hooked up to a bank of monitors. Exchanging uneasy looks, they doubled their efforts to find M-Two.

Hay Lin took advantage of their distraction. Turning invisible, the Air girl took to the sky over the hospital parking lot, looking for Sue Vandom or Dean Collins' car. When she found both, parked next to each other in the valet lot, it confirmed (to her at least,) Alborn's theory.

Alighting between the two cars, Hay gave Susan's green Accord a sympathetic pat before turning to Dean's tan PT Cruiser. A millisecond microburst of Air on the inside of the car, and she had the doors unlocked and the glove box opened. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten to take the alarm into account.

"Damned for the hen as much as the egg," she muttered once more, and used the Air again to open the door and bring her the contents of the glove compartment on a mini-tornado. Snatching the flying papers out of the air and closing the door again with a hip-bump, she teletransported back to the alley.

"Hay-hay, what is _that?"_ Will asked of the new armful of papers.

"Evidence … I hope," Hay replied.

"From where?" Matt had to ask for the Guardian leader, who was still just gawking at her teammate.

"Mister Collins' car," the Air girl admitted sheepishly. Matt thumped his forehead with a fist.

"Alright, let's see what you got," he said with a sigh. She handed him some of the papers, and split the rest with Will, who was now glaring at her.

"Okay … Registration for his PT Cruiser … Owner's manual for a … Volkswagon …" Both girls chuckled nervously behind him. "What?"

"Er, we're the reason he had to get a new car …" Will began.

"Do I want to know?"

"Not right now ..." Hay told him.*3 "I've got nothing here," she complained, waving her handful.

"I think I've got something," Will said reluctantly, holding out a folded yellow note with some distaste. She had _almost_ gotten over the last of her misgivings about her mother's boyfriend … until this. She was right back to resenting him wholeheartedly now. Hay took the note and opened it warily.

"Well?" Matt asked, his eyes flashing green with worry.

"'Need to clarify reference from Zephyr about Heart'," Hay read aloud after a gulp. She traded sickened looks with the other two teens. Their worst fears were coming to pass – exposed to the government as well as their parents. "What now?" Hay whined.

"We find Two-me," Matt spat. "Mina's safe … for now. Let's find out what happened …"

"Found him," Hay blurted, pointing to the far side of the parking lot … next to Dean and Susan's cars. He and a security guard were both looking at Dean's PT Cruiser as the alarm blared. The guard held up his walkie-talkie, and Hay told the other two he'd called in the license plate number, ostensibly so the owner could come shut it off.

"We need to leave," Will swore. She looked at the armfuls of paper they each were holding. "Come on, if Mom's here with Sis, we can put this stuff at my place. Maybe I can convince him he brought it all in to sort out …"

"You two go," Matt told the girls. "I'm gonna talk to my twin."

"_We'll_ talk to him," Hay countered, handing her papers – including the incriminating one – to Will. "No one works alone from now on. Hurry back, Will." She turned Matt and herself invisible after the other two nodded sadly in compliance, and Will got the rest of the papers from Matt as well, then disappeared while the Air girl and the Regent kept watch.

_Notes:_

*1: _manera_ – touch in Russian

*2: _Trener_ = coach in Russian

*3: Those familiar with the W.i.t.c.h. episode _'A Service to the Community'_ know what happened to Dean Collins!


End file.
